Animal control arrangement

ABSTRACT

An animal control arrangement in which there is provided a plurality of leashes which may be attached to the collars of animals to be controlled while walking, exercising, training or the like and which reduces the likelihood of the leashes becoming tangled.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to the animal control art and more particularlyto an anti-tangling leash arrangement for controlling a plurality ofanimals, such as dogs, during the walking, exercising, training or otheractivities wherein two or more animals must be simultaneouslycontrolled.

2. Description of the Prior Art

A major problem that often arises when one person is required to controlsimultaneously a plurality of animals, such as dogs, during the walking,exercising, training or the like of the plurality of dogs is that theleashes which are attached to the dogs often become tangled and twistedtogether as the dogs tend to move in separate and erratic paths. Manycities in the United States have leash laws that require that dogs berestrained on a leash generally specified to be no more than aparticular length, such as six feet in length, when in public. As such,the dogs cannot generally be allowed to roam freely, except in specificdesignated public areas which are generally designated “dog parks”.Unless a person is fortunate enough to live close to such a dog park orlive in an area where there are no leash laws, most of the time that oneperson is required to walk, train, exercise or the like simultaneously aplurality of dogs in public, each of the dogs must be restrained on therequired leash.

During such simultaneous control of a plurality of dogs by one person,it is generally desired that each of the leashes be held in one hand,leaving the other hand free for other activities.

There have heretofore been proposed various arrangements for the controlof a plurality of dogs by one person during the walking, exercise,training or the like of the dogs while maintaining each dog on aseparate leash with the desired objective of preventing the entanglementof the leashes. Such prior art arrangements have not always proven to besatisfactory in many applications. Therefore, there has long been a needfor a control arrangement that allows one person to controlsimultaneously a plurality of animals, such as dogs, during theexercise, walking, training or the like thereof while such animals areon individual leashes and which minimizes the entangelment of theleashes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide animproved animal control arrangement.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an animalcontrol arrangement useful in the application of one personsimultaneously controlling a plurality of animals.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a multipleleash arrangement for allowing one person to control simultaneously aplurality of animals while each of the animals is restrained on anindividual leash.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a multipleleash arrangement for allowing one person to control simultaneously aplurality of animals while each of the animals is restrained on anindividual leash and which reduces the occasions of the tangling of theleashes during the walking, exercising, training or the like of theanimals.

The above and other objects of the present invention are achieved,according to a preferred embodiment thereof by providing a body memberhaving a plurality, such as two, (though more may be desired in manyapplications) of substantially rigid mounting portions in a spaced apartarray. Each of said plurality of mounting portions has a preselectedgeometrical configuration such as bone end shaped round, quadrilateral,polygonal or other desired shapes. Each of the mounting portions hasperipheral walls defining a central cavity extending therethrough andthe peripheral walls have a predetermined geometrical configuration incross section. The body member also has a rigid joining portion forconnecting the mounting portions in the spaced apart array.

In this embodiment of the present invention there is also provided aplurality of flexible, resilient, coil spring like members having acental cavity therethrough defined by the coils of the spring likemember and one of the plurality of flexible, resilient, coil spring likemembers is movably connected to each of the rigid mounting portions forsliding movement on peripheral walls thereof. There are a plurality ofleash members, each of the plurality of leash members having a handleend and an attachment end. One of the plurality of leash members isthreaded through the tube like members. The attachment end of each ofthe leash members is spaced away from the body member in a firstdirection and the handle end of each of the leash members extends in asecond direction away from the body member whereby each of saidattachment ends of the plurality of leash members may be attached to ananimal, such as a dog, to be controlled and the handle end of each ofleash members may be held by the person controlling the animal.

A restraining member is coupled to each of said plurality of leashmembers intermediate the attachment end thereof and said handle endthereof for preventing the leash members from moving out of saidflexible, resilient, coil spring like member in a direction toward thehandle end thereof and allowing said leash member to slide through theflexible, resilient, coil spring like member in a direction toward saidattachment end thereof. For the condition of an animal such as a dogattached to the attachment end of the leashes and the person controllingthe dog has grasped the handle end of the leashes, the restrainingmember is in abutment with the body member and preventing the leashesfrom movement toward the handle end thereof and defining a predeterminedseparation of the animals from the body member.

It has been found that this embodiment of the animal control arrangementreduces the tendency of the leashes to become entangled or twistedtogether as the animals tend to walk and wander in various directionsduring the walk, exercise, training or the like which the personcontrolling the animals desires the animals to do.

The mounting portions of the body member may be made in any desiredgeometrical configuration as long as there are peripheral walls defininga cavity therethrough. Thus the mounting members may be in the form of abone end, a ring, a quadrilateral such as a square, diamond, trapezoid,parallelogram, etc. or may be in the form of any desired other polygon.The mounting portions of the body member may also be in the form of aring, an oval or other curvilinear configuration.

The cross sectional configuration of the peripheral walls of themounting members may be, for example, tubular, solid rod like,rectangular or square ribbon like or any other desired geometricalshape. Similarly, the joining portion may have a cross sectionalconfiguration of a single tube like, rod like, ribbon like or any otherdesired configuration. The joining portion may be split into two or morespaced apart sections as may be desired for certain conditions.

In other embodiments of the present invention. the flexible, resilient,coil spring like members may be replaced by tubular members.

The exact physical laws which explain why these embodiments of theinvention act to reduce the tendency of the leashes to become tangled orentwined is not known.

The leashes may be conventional fixed length leashes or they may be theextendible type of leash in which a controller is provided with a springloaded reel upon which the leash is wound and a handle portion forholding the controller. Operable buttons selectively allow the leash toextend from the controller against the spring tension and be retractedinto the controller by the spring action as desired.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The above and other embodiments of the present invention may be morefully understood from the following detailed description taken togetherwith the accompanying drawing and in which similar reference charactersrefer to similar elements throughout and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a multiple leash useful in the practice of thepresent invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates another multiple leash useful in the practice of thepresent invention.

FIGS. 4A through 4I illustrate various geometrical configurations of thebody member useful in the practice of the present invention;

FIGS. 5A through 5D illustrate various cross sectional configurations ofthe peripheral walls of the mounting portion and the joining portion ofthe body member useful in various embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates another body member useful in the practice of thepresent invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates another body member useful in the practice of thepresent invention; and,

FIG. 8 illustrates another embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the drawing there is shown in FIG. 1 a preferredembodiment of the present invention generally designated 10. Theembodiment 10 is provided with a pair of extendible leash controllers 12and 14 which may be fixedly coupled together. The controllers 12 and 14have a spring loaded reel portion 12 a and 14 a, respectively, and ahandle portion 12 b and 14 b respectively. A leash 16 extends from thespring loaded reel portion 12 and a leash 18 extends from the reelportion 14 a. The leashes 16 and 18 extend against the tension of thespring in the controllers and are retracted into the respective reelportion by the action of the spring loaded reel. The controllers 12 and14 may be one of the many of the types of extendable leash arrangementssuch as those sold under the trademark TOP PAW® by Pacific CoastDistributing, Inc., P.O. Box 84613, Phoenix, Ariz. 85071, or those soldunder the trademark SPOTLIGHT® BY Ruff & Tumble Company, 21755 VenturaBlvd., Woodland Hills, Calif. 91364, or those sole under the trademarkFLEXI BY Flexi ISA, 147 Circle Freeway, Cincinnati, Ohio 45246 and areuseful in the practice of this embodiment of the present invention. Thehandle portions 12 b and 14 b may, for purposes of the description ofthe present invention be considered the handles of the leashes 16 and18, respectively. Buttons 12 c and 14 c are utilized to control theextension and retraction of the leashes 16 and 18, respectively in amanner well known in the art and may be individually operated or jointlyoperated by a rocker button (not shown). While two controllers 12 and 14are shown on FIG. 1, more than two such controllers may be convenientlyjoined together for appropriate operation according to the principles ofthe present invention.

The leashes 16 and 18 extend past a body member 20, through retainers 22and 24 which are fixedly coupled to the leashes 16 and 18 respectively,through a separator generally designated 27 which, in the embodiment 10are flexible, resilient, coil spring like members 26 and 28,respectively, and terminate at the attachment ends 30 and 32,respectively, which are connected to swivel snap fasteners 34 and 36.The swivel snap fasteners may be attached to the collars of the animalsto be controlled.

The body member 20 has a pair of substantially rigid mounting portions38 and 40 in a fixed spaced apart array and are maintained in this fixedspaced apart array by a rigid joining portion 42. In the embodiment 10the body member 20 is in the form of a “bone” and the mounting portions38 and 40 are in the form of “bone ends”. As described below inconnection with FIG. 4, the body member useful in various embodiments ofthe present invention may take a variety of configurations.

Each of the mounting portions 38 and 40 have a preselected shape with apreselected geometrical configuration. The mounting portions 38 and 40have peripheral walls 38 a and 40 a defining a cavity 38 b and 40 b. Themounting portions 38 and 40 may have any desired cross sectionalconfiguration as described below in connection with FIG. 5.

The rigid joining member 42 is, in the embodiment 10, a pair of spacedapart joining sections 42 a and 42 b which may also have any desiredcross sectional configuration as described below in connection withFIGS. 5A through 5D.

The flexible, resilient, coil spring like members 26 and 28 are mountedon the mounting portions 38 and 40, respectively, for sliding motion onthe peripheral walls 38 a and 40 a, respectively, but are preferablyretained by their configuration from entering the space 44 between thejoining sections 42 a and 42 b.

The retaining members 22 and 24 are, as noted above, fixedly coupled tothe leashes 16 and 18, respectively, and abut against the peripheralwalls 38 a and 40 a, respectively, thereby restraining the leashes 16and 18 from further retraction by the reel towards the handles 12 b and14 b, respectively as indicated by the arrow 46. The retainers 22 and 24are sized so as to be freely movable through the flexible, resilient,coil spring like members 26 and 28, respectively, in the direction ofthe attachment ends 30 and 32 as indicated by the arrow 48. Suchmovement in the direction of the arrow 48 is accomplished by selectivelyreleasing the buttons 12 c and/or 14 c allowing the animals (not shown)connected to the snap swivels 34 and 36 to pull the leashes 16 and 18 asfar out as the person controlling the animals desires.

In other embodiments of the present invention it may be desired toutilize fixed length leashes. FIG. 2 illustrates the use of fixed lengthleashes in an embodiment 50 of the present invention. The pair ofleashes 52 a and 54 b may be conventional leashes having handle ends 52a and 54 a and attachment ends 52 b and 54 b to which are connected snapswivels 56 and 58. The body member, retainer and flexible, resilient,coil spring like members have been omitted from FIG. 2 for clarity. Ifdesired, the handle ends 52 a and 54 a may be coupled together such asby sewing, gluing, or the like.

FIG. 3 illustrates another embodiment of the present invention generallydesignated 60 which is similar to the embodiment 50 except that a ringmember 62 is utilized to provide connection of the handle end 64 a and66 a of leashes 64 and 66, respectively. A separate handle 68 is alsoconnected to the ring member 62 and thus may provide a more comfortablehandle for grasping by the person controlling the animals. The bodymember, retainer and flexible, resilient, coil spring like members havebeen omitted from FIG. 3 for clarity.

FIGS. 4A through 4I illustrate various configurations of the bodymembers which may be advantageously utilized in the practice of thepresent invention. The shapes and configurations as shown in FIGS. 4Athrough 4I are only examples: other configurations may equally well beutilized and the present invention contemplates any configuration ofbody member having the basic characteristecs as described herein. FIG.4A shows the “bone shaped” body member 20 as described above inconnection with embodiment 10. Any of the mounting portions shown inFIGS. 4A through 4B may be utilized with any of the joining portionsshown as may be desired for different applications.

FIG. 4B shows a body member 70 having toroidal shaped mounting portions72 and 74 with a single joining portion 76.

FIG. 4C shows a body member 78 having quadrilateral diamond shapedmounting portions 80 and 82 with a joining portion 84 having two spacedapart sections 86 and 88.

FIG. 4D shows a body member 90 having curvilinear oval shaped mountingportions 92 and 94 with a joining portion 96 having two spaced apartsections 98 and 100. The long axis of the ovals mounting portions 92 and94 are perpendicular to the joining member 96.

FIG. 4E shows a body member 102 having polygonal hexagonal shapedmounting portions 104 and 106 with a joining portion 108 having twospaced apart sections 110 and 112.

FIG. 4F shows a body member 114 having curvilinear oval shaped mountingportions 116 and 118 with a joining portion 120 having two spaced apartsections 122 and 124. The long axis of the ovals mounting portions 116and 118 are substantially parallel to the joining member 120.

FIG. 4G shows a body member 126 having curvilinear “clover leaf” shapedmounting portions 128 and 130 with a joining portion 132 having twospaced apart sections 136 and 138.

FIG. 4H shows a body member 138 having irregular polygonal shapedmounting portions 140 and 142 with a joining portion 146 having twospaced apart sections 148 and 150.

FIG. 4I shows a body member 152 having polygonal triangular shapedmounting portions 154 and 156 with a single joining portion 158.

Any of the above described body members may be utilized in any of theembodiments of the present invention such as embodiments 10, 50 and 60described above and embodiment 200 described below in connection withFIG. 8.

FIGS. 5A through 5D illustrate various cross sectional configurationsthat may be utilized in the fabrication of any or all portions of thebody member utilized in the practice of the present invention. Themounting portions of the body member may have the same cross sectionalconfigurations as the joining portion or they may be different. FIG. 5Ashows a tube like cross sectional configuration as indicated at 160.FIG. 5B shows a solid rod like cross sectional configuration asindicated at 162. FIG. 5C shows a rectangular ribbon like crosssectional configuration as indicated at 64. FIG. 5D shows a squareribbon like cross sectional configuration as indicated at 166. Othercross sectional configurations may be utilized as desired.

The present invention is not limited to arrangements for controlling twoanimals. That is, the structure taught herein may be adopted to controlany number of animals. As noted above, more than two controllers may befixed together so as to allow controlling of three dogs on leashes.Similarly, the multiple leash arrangements shown on FIGS. 2 and 3 may bemodified by adding additional fixed length leashes as may be desired.The body member for such more than two leash arrangement applicationsmay be modified so as to have three or more mounting portions, thenumber of mounting portions corresponding to the number of leashes. FIG.6 illustrates an embodiment generally designated 168 of a body member170 having three mounting portions 172, 174 and 176. A joining portion178 with two sections 180 and 182 join mounting portions 176 and 174 andjoining portion 184 with sections 186 and 188 join mounting portions 174and 172. The body member 170 may be provided with separator members ateach mounting portion and retaining members attached to the leashes asinserted through the separator members as described above to allowcontrol of three animals. The body member may be expanded to include asmany mounting portions more than three as desired for controlling anydesired number of animals.

The body members utilized in the present invention may have the mountingportions lie in the same plane as the joining portion or the body membermay be in an arcuate configuration. FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment168′ of a three mounting portion body member similar to the body member170 described above and wherein the entire body member is in an arcuateconfiguration. Any of the body members described above may also befabricated and used in an arcuate configuration or any other non-planararrangement.

FIG. 8 illustrates a partial cross sectional view of another embodimentof the present invention generally designated 200. In the embodiment200, which may be similar to the emboiment 10 described above, there isprovided a leash, 202 which extends past a mounting portion 206 of abody member 204 and be provided with a retainer 210 fixed thereon. Theseparator member 208 is in the form of a rigid walled, curved tubularmember and the separator member 208 is slidingly mounted on the mountingportion 206 which extend through an aperture 212. The separator membermay also be a flexible walled tube like member as may be desired forparticular applications. The operation of the embodiment 200 is similarto the operation of the embodiment 10 described above. Otherconfigurations of a separator member may be utilized as desired toprovide the desired functions thereof.

From the above it can be seen that there has been provided an improvedanimal control arrangement which reduces the occasions which the leashesto which the animals to be controlled are attached become tangled. Thoseskilled in the art may find many variations and adaptations of thepresent invention and the appended claims are intended to cover all suchvariations and adaptations falling within the scope and sprit thereof.

1. An improved animal control arrangement adapted to providesimultaneous control of a plurality of animals by a person controllingthe animals and comprising, in combination: a body member having aplurality of substantially rigid mounting portions in a spaced apartarray, each of said plurality of mounting portions having a preselectedgeometrical configuration and peripheral walls defining a central cavityand said peripheral walls having a predetermined geometricalconfiguration in cross section, and said body member having a rigidjoining portion for connecting said mounting portions in said spacedapart array; a plurality of separator members having a central cavitytherethrough, one of said separator members movably connected to each ofsaid rigid mounting portions for sliding movement on said peripheralwalls thereof, a plurality of leash members, each of said plurality ofleash members having a handle end and an attachment end, each one ofsaid plurality of leash members threaded through one of said pluralityof separator members, whereby each of said attachment ends of saidplurality of leash members may be attached to an animal to be controlledand said handle end of each of said leash members may be held by theperson controlling the animals; and a restraining member coupled to eachof said plurality of leash members intermediate said attachment endthereof and said handle end thereof and said restraining member having afirst condition for preventing said leash members from moving throughsaid separator members in directions toward said handle ends thereof forsaid restraining members abutting said substantially rigid mountingportions and said restraining member having a second condition forallowing said leash members to slide through said separator members indirections toward said attachment end thereof; whereby, for an animalsuch as a dog attached to said attachment end of each of said leashmembers and the person controlling the dogs has grasped the handle endof the leash members said restraining member is in abutment with saidbody member and preventing said leash members from extending toward saidhandle end, thereby fixing a preselected separation of said attachmentend of said leashes from said body member.
 2. The arrangement defined inclaim 1 wherein: the number of said plurality of mounting portions ofsaid body member is at least two.
 3. The arrangement defined in claim 1wherein: the number of said plurality of mounting portions is greaterthan two.
 4. The arrangement defined in claim 1 wherein: saidpreselected geometrical configuration of at least one of said pluralityof mounting portions is bone shaped.
 5. The arrangement defined in claim1 wherein: said preselected geometrical configuration of at least one ofsaid plurality of mounting portions is toroidal shaped.
 6. Thearrangement defined in claim 1 wherein: said preselected geometricalconfiguration of at least one of said plurality of mounting portions iscircular ring shaped.
 7. The arrangement defined in claim 1 wherein:said preselected geometrical configuration of at least one of saidplurality of mounting portions is diamond shaped.
 8. The arrangementdefined in claim 1 wherein: said preselected geometrical configurationof at least one of said plurality of mounting portions is oval shaped.9. The arrangement defined in claim 1 wherein: said preselectedgeometrical configuration of at least one of said plurality of mountingportions is clover leaf like shaped.
 10. The arrangement defined inclaim 1 wherein: said preselected geometrical configuration of at leastone of said plurality of mounting portions is quadrilateral shaped. 11.The arrangement defined in claim 1 wherein: said preselected geometricalconfiguration of at least one of said plurality of mounting portions istriangular shaped.
 12. The arrangement defined in claim 1 wherein: saidpreselected geometrical configuration of at least one of said pluralityof mounting portions is a multi sided polygon.
 13. The arrangementdefined in claim 1 wherein: at least one of said plurality of leashes isextendable.
 14. The arrangement defined in claim 3 wherein: at least twoof said leashes are extendable; and the extension of each of saidleashes may be selectively simultaneously controlled and individuallycontrolled.
 15. The arrangement defined in claim 1 wherein: said rigidjoining member has a tube like cross sectional configuration.
 16. Thearrangement defined in claim 1 wherein: said rigid joining member has arod like cross sectional configuration.
 17. The arrangement defined inclaim 1 wherein: said rigid joining member has a quadrilateral ribbonlike cross sectional configuration.
 18. The arrangement defined in claim1 wherein: said rigid joining member has a pair of spaced apartelements.
 19. The arrangement defined in claim 1 wherein: said separatormember is a flexible, resilient coil spring like member.
 20. Thearrangement defined in claim 1 wherein: said separator member is a tubelike member.